Family

My fiance and I are crazy animal people. We both grew up with pets and the second I got a place of my own, I adopted two cats. I had two cats, no furniture, and was perfectly content. A couple years later we bought a house, and what’s a house without a dog?? And now that we have all this extra room, it feels empty with only three animals, right? Let’s get another cat! Well let me tell you, it doesn’t feel empty anymore.

Here is the family, in order of adoption:

Sebastian – 9yrs

Sebastian, the only tripawd in the family, was the first cat I picked out. Back then he had 4 legs, of course. I went to a local humane society and asked which cat had been there the longest. They pointed me to a cage on the bottom row in the corner of the room. Black cats are hard enough to get a good look at, and that location did him no service. I said OK – let’s take him out. They brought him into a play room and I sat down next to him. He flopped down, rolled over, and let me rub his belly. Done. You’re going home with me, buddy! I kept his name – what a great name!

Why Sebastian was at the shelter for so long is a mystery. He was roughly 1-2 years old and I got the impression he had spent a lot of the past year there. He’s the perfect cat. He talks. He’s adorable. He entertains himself. He’s very social. And he learns tricks like a dog (sometimes out performing Arthas). The only “problems” are that he’s a little skittish and has some anger management issues. He grumbles and complains a lot, but he’s not violent…unless you’re a vet.

Barney – 9yrs

I adopted Barney the same day I adopted Sebastian. I walked in knowing I wanted two cats because they would be home alone for 8-10 hours every day. I chose Barney because he and Sebastian were already friends at the shelter. He was 9 months old, huge for his age, and pretty darn cute. I didn’t like the name but never came up with a better one. Before I signed the papers, the people at the shelter said “Barney was returned once for playing too rough. Is that OK with you?” What? Poor cat. Of course it’s OK with me.

Barney’s a total jerk. The “disclaimer” was an understatement, but I love this cat to death. Look at that face! How could you not?? He cuddles with me every night and he’s smart. Unfortunately, he’s way too smart. If Barney doesn’t get what he wants, he finds a way to force you to give it to him. Not dinner time yet? Well I’ll try howling for the next 3 hours. You aren’t paying attention to me? Well I’ll scratch this. And this. How about if I knock this on the floor? That wasn’t loud enough…how about this one? Still not paying attention? What if I try to electrocute myself by chewing on these cords? AHA! You don’t want me to get hurt? See, I knew you still loved me.

Barney is the other cancer survivor in the house. He had a small mass on his face and it was surgically removed. So far, no more problems. His new name is Scarface.

Arthas – 6yrs

Arthas. The brown-eyed, adorable, brilliant, could never do any wrong puppy dog. We think he is a black lab-border collie mix. He’s a little short for a lab, but still just as heavy (75lbs in a condensed package). We adopted him from a rescue when he was 6 months old. He was covered in superficial wounds from other dogs beating on him, and he was very under weight at 25lbs. You could see his hip bones. He was/is the happiest dog ever though. He quickly put on some weight and grew up, but he never lost the puppy face. Oh, and I didn’t name him. You can thank my video-game loving fiance for that one.

Arthas is a genius, and I can say that because I’m his mom and mom’s brag. When we first brought him home and started training, he learned a new trick every day. The dog practically understands English. I assume this is from the border collie part of him. He also herds the cats…and small children. Sorry kitties. They love him, I promise.

Loki – 5yrs

We like mythology around here, plus the name fit quite well for a 4 month old kitten. We wanted another cat. That’s really all there was to it. So we looked at what seemed like a hundred cats until we found one that could handle 2 cats and a big dog. He was the last of a litter of 7 and his name was Sneezy. We think the humiliation of being named “Sneezy” made him tough. He was willing to put up with just about anything, and we went out of our way to make sure he stayed that way. Loki is extremely cuddly and a little nuts, in the cutest of ways. He also has an extremely high pitched, loud meow that sounds like a seagull.